The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-06-06
For the Reason that the President, in Ap
pointing the Members, Did Not Comply
with the Express Provisions of the Law.
Indications that the Vandalia Sale Will
Result in Benefiting the 0. & H.,
That Line and the Pennsylyania-0wner-
ship of Vandaia's st. Louis Terminal.
THE INTERSTATE COMMISSION.
An Effort to Show that the Present Board Is
Not Legally Constituted.


An Effort Show that Present Board Is
Not Legally Constituted.
Special to the Indianaoois journal.
WAsHINGToN. June Sit appears that there il
considerable doubt to the elegality of the OF
the Interstate commerce Commission Good law
yers hold that this commission is not composed
of the class of officers who could be appointed
during the recess of the Senate The subject
is cogently treated as follows In o-day's Sunday
Herald
"A matter of great Importance which is just
now receiving good deal of attention. and
which is a subject of quiet though very earnest
discussion, is the apparent eomplaeency of the
great railroads OF the country under the opera
ton OF the interstatecommerce law. Various
reasons have been suggested in explanation Of
this graceful yielding to enactment that
seemed to be leveled at the very life of same of
the giant monopolies which, by exorbitant
charges, pooling, and uni ust Determinations,
had for years been grinding smaller COMPANIES
and inJurlng or retarding whole communities.
This compalsance Is accounted for in far-sighted
expectation, based upon ideas and opinions chief
among which are the following: There
merous prominent lawyers and able statesmen
who adhere to the opinion that the President
had no right TO appoint the Interstate-commerce
Commissioners without the advice and consent
OF the Senate. the opinen of the Attorney
general to the contrary Notwithstanding. The
distinction ls that these were cfiiees and
should have been filled by appointment by the
President, and with the advice and consent of
the Senate, as expressly required by the terms
OF the interstate-commerce act The ob1ectors
contend that the President exceeded mis- cousti-
tutional power, which is in these terms:
1.-The President shall nominate and by and with
the advice and of the Senate of the United
States shall appoint all officers of the United States
whose appointments shall be established by law.
The President shall have power fill up vacancies
that may happen during the recess of the Senate by
granting commissions which shall expire at end of
their next session
"Great stress is laid upon the assertion that,
as the offices of the Interstate Commission are
new Offices the President had legal right to
fill lhem without the advice and consent of the
Senate; that the places We're not vacancies,
according to the Interpretation OF that word as
given repeatedly by the Senate; or even if they
be conceded to be vacancies, they did
not happen during the of the
Senate-they existed twenty-seven days while
the Senate in session. The President
approved the act to regulate commerce on Feb.
4; Congress remained in session until noon of
March 4. and. as reminder to the executive,
the act in express terms requires that the pro-
visions regulating the appointment and organi-
zation of the commission herein provided for
shall take effect immediately; but. is well
known, the President did not appoint the COM
mssoners until after Congress expired.
Another significant point in this connection
is that ex Senator Boutwell, expressed the opiu-
ion that when the question of the constitution
Atty of the interstate commerce law shall have
been brought squarely before the Supreme Court
of the United States for adjudication, the latter
will crush out that anomalous by brid, extra
legislative. extraexecutive, extrsindicial tri-
bunal by declaring it unconstitutional"
On What the Commissioners Are Not Agreed.
Washington Special to New York Evening Post.
The eInterstatecommerce Commissioners have
not recently issued any general order. Their
latest document is the letter of Judge Cooley
about the fourth section, and it is now evident
that there has been some misapprehension to
that. 1t was thought at first that there could
be doubt that the letter had the approval of
every member of the commission; but the refer
ence which some of the members have made in
private to the letter would seem 20 indicate that
Judge Cooley spoke only for himself
The commission is now spending much time
each day in private consultation. 1t is ascer
tanned that these conferences are devoted not
much to the petitions which daily received,
requesting the Intervention OF the
mission as to a great variety of mat
ters, but that they held for the pnr-
pose of endeavoring to come to some general
understanding as to the real meaning of the law.
The phrase in the fourth section, under sub
stantially similar circumstances and conditions"
Is, of course, the subject on which there Is the
greatest difference of opinion. In respect,
however, the paradoxical statementis is true-that
as this clause there is difference of opinion
in the commission-they substantially agree
that they do not understand what it does mean.
Even the joint authors OF the bill, Senators Call
ing But the commission has found it necessary
to construe this section. and will endeavor to
come to some formal understanding with regard
to il. 1t is not their expectation that any posi-
phrase will be final until after the courts shall
have passed upon il. ''And even then" said one
member, lately, a friend ''the courts
only guess at what it ought to mean,
because it does not anything. It is
compromise phraseology like tho plank in tho
Democratic platform as to the tariff The COM
missioners will endeavor to come to some decis-
ion upon this subject, and also as to what their
final policy will be with respect to the fourth
section, by the middle of June. 1t is their
present purpose to be absent from Washington
for time after the lst of July, but. upon an
nouncing their ruling TO the fourth section in
its various phases they will probably remain
here for two weeks to observe what the result Of
their ruling may be-
Meanwhile. complaints as to the interstate
commerce law are not confined to this country,
and American protectionists rejoice at the reason
assigned. Late numbers of the London Times
show that the British manufacturers COM
planning that they losing their American
markets because of their inability to ship to
Chicago, ST Louis, and other interior distribut-
lug centers for less than it costs the
American manufacturer TO send the same goods
only quarter of the distance.